SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I understand that the current Queen's Hotel was built in the late1930s and replaced the original hotel built in the 1860s. I have a newspaper article from 1935 that mentions some bas relief stone carvings from the original building that there was talk of preserving. These included a steam engine emerging from a tunnel (near the main entrance), a fiddle, a bottle of wine, and various game animals. Does anyone know if any of these sculptures were, in fact, preserved? And, if so, were they incorporated into the 1930s construction or preserved at another site? I will be visiting Leeds from North America in September and would love to see any of these works that may still exist. Thank you for your help.

Hello,

I was waiting for somebody who knew the answer to post. I'm sorry to say that as a native of Leeds I don't know the answer: it seems visitors to places are sometimes better informed than the locals. I'm rarely in that part of Leeds on foot these days with the opportunity to have a look, but if nobody else posts, I'll try to go and see.

You may know already that Leeds Civic Trust might be a good place to start asking:
http://leedscivictrust.org.uk/

Thank you, jma.

I was not aware of Leeds Civic Trust and I appreciate your pointing me in their direction. I've just sent them an enquiry. I've also written the Local History division at Leeds Central Library but have not yet received a reply. I'm afraid that locating these pieces is a long shot, yet we can but try.

Thank you, again, for your response.

Hi Thorvald47 Its a long shot but you could look on Leodis there could be photographs on there good luck.

I don't think that these are from the original QH, but there are the images at the top of the columns that form the canopy of the exit from the New Station St. You can just about see them here... https://goo.gl/maps/SUr9XuzYoFx

I think they are to do with the various railway companies from memory but not 100% sure.

There is a thread on here already about the ones that LS1 refers to,I was looking at it yesterday.
Searching this site and Leodis together with the Yorkshire evening post.co.uk throws up a fair amount of info
but some of the links from them no longer exist.
I doubt very much that anything from the old hotel would be used in such a flagship project.
The hotel has some storage under the Dark Arches with old stuff but this is probably from the existing building.
Thorvald47 - it it possible to post or give a link to the newspaper article?
You could also write or email the current manager at the Queens for info.
The Queens opened in 1937,my Dad started work there in1938 until he retired in1981,he knew every inch of the place but
sadly he is no longer with us.
Good luck with your search and remember to let us know what you discover.

Thanks to all for your suggestions and help!
While we know quite a bit about the sculptor's life, we know little of his work beyond the School Board building sculptures mentioned in one of the articles and a couple of grave monuments.
Attached are copies of the three articles from the Yorkshire Evening Post that mention the Queen's Hotel sculptures.

Two old maps below of the old Queens hotel, as you can see from the 1891 map the old goit running to Swinegate is still visible. However by 1910 the Queens seem to have extended slightly and a new parcels' office added, the goit is no longer visible (not sure when the goit was filled in but the weir section and beyond was under the old tram sheds).

Another map, this time its a Fire Insurance map from December 1886